A deserted island... a lost man... memories of a fatal crash... a book written by a dying explorer.
Dear Esther is a ghost story told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional gameplay, the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly triggered by moving around the environments, making every telling unique. Features a stunning, specially commissioned soundtrack. Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it's because it may just be all a delusion.
What is the significance of the aerial - What happened on the motorway - is the island real or imagined - who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here?
The answers are out there, on the lost beach and the tunnels under the island. Or then again, they may just not be, after all...

Mod players of the world have spoken, and it seems that Half-Life 2 based mods have cleaned up this category. Considering the number of Half-Life 2 fans and developers, this may come as no surprise to many, but if you aren't one of the millions, push harder to help the mods you love get recognition in 2011. For now, lets acknowledge 2010's most anticipated, because love it or hate it every mod listed here deserves their place, and all promise to provide gamers with something memorable.

To qualify for the top 5, the mod must place higher than it has in previous years and must have had a significant update in 2010. Otherwise an honorable mention is given, which these teams have received:

It seems players this year absolutely love their Half-Life cannons with Opposing Force 2 no exception. Can we expect to see the continuation of Adrian Shephards story in 2011? Is any explanation required? Without a SHADOW of a doubt, Black Mesa is the most hotly anticipated mod we have ever seen. The team may not update often, but when they do they stir up a frenzy and there is little doubt why. 2010 saw no release maybe just maybe 2011? Just missing out placing again this year Stargate - Empire at War: Pegasus Chronicles has been on peoples mod wishlist for quite some time now. Will 2011 see a release? Or will they be up for another unreleased nomination?

5Ivan's Secrets
is a singleplayer total conversion, focusing on horror, tactical shooting and exploration.It is set in the Aral Sea, now a dried up desert and features realistic and accurate locations. The player takes on the role of an investigative agent, sent into locate an aircraft that went missing 1 year before hand.4Cry of Fear
is a singleplayer modification of total conversion Half-Life which brings you the horror you've always been afraid of. It's all made exclusively by the developers. It also uses new gaming styles that you will rarely find in Half-Life mods, such as advanced cutscenes and other stuff that will be revealed at a later date.3Operation Black Mesa
is a total Source remake of Half Life: Opposing Force. Opposing Force is still an amazing game, although its not nearly as amazing as it was when it was released. Using the Source engine, the developers plan to recreate the Black Mesa research Facility as it was seen by Corporal Adrian Shephard of the H.E.C.U.2Dear Esther
is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, experimental first-person game. Built in the Source engine, it abandons traditional gameplay, leaving only a rich world soaked in atmosphere, and an abstract, poetic story to explore. Dear Esther was originally launched in 2008 and is currently being rebuilt by Robert Briscoe.1Project Reality: ArmA 2
will exist as a standalone modification. It will remain self contained, self developing and not rely on or use externally held add-ons from other sources where at all possible. What that means to the player is that it will be a 'one stop shop' as an installation package, with no requirement for additional multiple add on packs.

To be fair it doesn't really matter because all of this, these awards are about who gets the most votes. and if the half life mods can't advertise well enough.. It's their problem. You can't just say that it's unfair just because a mod you like isn't in there.

Thanks for the honorable mention! We also want to thank you for all the support and suggestions, and our fan community has been keeping us alive for all these years! Keep tuned for our demo next month!

Nice choice, players have spoken. ;)
Anyway, there are so awesome mods out there, here we have 5, maybe the 5 best mods. So you can see (again) what modders can do.
They can make a game better than it was originaly (imo Arma 2). Nice work.

Like always I watch the video before scrolling down to see the actual winner. Got to #2 and saw Dear Esther and found myself a bit confused but was not at all surprised to see Project Reality up there once again. Congrats too all the top 5 and keep modding alive!

the votes are rigged what do u expect :/ and ESF dident get an Honorable mention so dont know what ur talking about :( Im not a massive fan of ESF but its seriously well made game kinda makes these games look bad no offense its deffinitly in its own league and bit too good for Mod db

Like as if World of warcraft was on Mod db the only reason it doesent win awards is becuase its too good and there for unfair if they include it

If you think PR's an FPS like CoD, you might be mistaken. It is a completely different story. The difference between one FPS and another can be larger than the difference between a roleplaying game and a strategy game.

They're different, but singleplayer requires vastly more mapping work, and depending on the engine it can require a lot of work to get functional AI. Of course, a well balanced and deep multiplayer game can take just as long, but to simply get the game to a playable level singleplayer is probably more difficult.

If anything requires more, then that's Multiplayer. Why? It's quite simple actually. In Singleplayer, you have to worry about one player playing it. In Multiplayer, you have to worry about multiple ones. That means, the developers have to think many possibility on what can happen in a MP session, where in Singleplayer, it's just one course. Models, textures, levels, weapons and such, they require the same care. They have to look good, they have to be balanced and have a good performance as well. No matter if it's SP or MP. Testing in MP requires more as well. In SP, testers usually know what's gonna happen in a given point, so it's easier to just to get to that even and see if it works right. But in MP, testers have to test many possibilities. Like, what happens if I try to drive over there? Or here? Or shoot there? Or do something else? In SP, it's easier in this case.